Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said Monday that given the economic crisis, her union would be willing to discuss new approaches to issues like teacher tenure and merit pay.
Ms. Weingarten, who was elected president of the national union in July and continues as president of its New York City local, the United Federation of Teachers, spoke in detail about three issues that have often led critics to portray teachers’ unions as obstacles to the improvement of student achievement: seniority and other contract provisions that have tended to assign rookie teachers to poor schools with the neediest students, many union locals’ opposition to merit pay, and tenure rules that have made it hard to remove incompetent teachers.
On teacher assignments, she pointed to new contract rules the union negotiated with New York City that no longer require principals to accept teachers, or teachers to take jobs, in schools that are not a good fit for them. Ms. Weingarten said she was working with civil rights and other groups to develop similar approaches that could work elsewhere in the nation.
On merit pay, she pointed to a system she negotiated in New York that allows all teachers in a participating school to receive extra pay when that school excels. She said her union was willing to discuss adopting similar plans elsewhere.
On tenure, Ms. Weingarten recommended increased use of peer review, in which veteran teachers mentor less effective colleagues and even, she said, “counsel unsuccessful colleagues out of the profession.” Peer review has been used in Toledo, Ohio, and other communities for many years, and she said she hoped to “put it to work in many more.”
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